Transcript Slide 1

EQUALITY – Ethics 2
1. Principle of equality
•The principle of equality is that everyone should be
treated fairly without suffering prejudice or
discrimination.
•The principle of equality for everyone is enshrined in the
UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
•This states that:
•Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights. …
•Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and
freedoms …
•However, people all over the world are not treated
equally and fairly and suffer from prejudice and
discrimination. This can be because of their race,
sex, religion, colour, sexuality, age, disability,
language, social class, or simply living in the wrong
place or wearing the wrong clothes.
•Prejudice is an idea or feeling which one person
holds and which affects another person, i.e.
prejudging someone without getting to know them.
•Discrimination is when they act on this prejudice and
treat the other person accordingly.
•Discrimination can take place whenever someone
with power exercises that power over people who do
not have power, so: discrimination = prejudice +
power.
2. Biblical teaching about equality
•According to Christian teaching God created everything
and therefore no one is superior or inferior in God’s eyes
other than by their own actions.
•Jesus taught that people must love others, and that in
this way humanity would eventually be saved from war
and suffering: ‘A new command I give you: Love one
another. As I have loved you, so you must love one
another’ (John 13:34).
•For a Christian, it should make no different whether
people are male or female, black or white, rich or poor.
They should all be shown the same love because they are
made in the image of God. (Genesis 1:28)
3. Christian attitudes towards racism
• Although Christian teaching has always opposed racism
there are many examples in the past of Christians and
Christian organisations being guilty of racism.
•The biblical teaching on equality shapes Christian
attitudes towards racism. Christians are opposed to
prejudice and discrimination, including racism.
•One of the main teachings of Jesus against racism is told
in the Parable of the Good Samaritan where, in answering
the question: ‘Who is my neighbour?’, Jesus teaches that
people should treat everyone well.
•Many Christian denominations and individuals have been,
and are, actively involved in the fight against racism.
•One famous example is Martin Luther King Jr (1929-68), a
Baptist minister who led protests against racial
discrimination in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. He
spent most of his life trying to get the law in the USA
changed through peaceful protest, and legislation which
separated blacks and whites in the USA, called the ‘Jim
Crow Laws’, was finally abolished with the introduction of
the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
•However, there have been many occasions over the
centuries when the Christian Church has rightly been
accused of racism and religious intolerance:
•During the crusades of the 11th to 13th centuries,
thousands of people were killed in the name of
Christianity.
•In what is now the USA, many Christians became
very rich slave owners in the ‘Deep South’. Slaves
were almost always black people. Many of these
owners were committed Christians who believed
they were helping the slaves by forcing them to
convert. However, Christians were very active in
the campaigns to end slavery and it was officially
abolished after the end of the US Civil War in
1865.
•There has been much debate over the silence of
the Roman Catholic Church about the persecution of
the Jews in Nazi Germany during the Second World
War (1939-45).
4.Christian attitudes towards gender and the role of
women in Christian society
• Many Christians believe men and women should have
equal rights and roles in life. They support this view
with teachings such as:
• ‘Let us make man in our own image’ (Genesis 1:26-27)
where it says men and women were created at the same
time.
• Jesus shows great respect when a woman at Bethany
anoints him with oil (Matthew 26:6-13).
• When Jesus rose from the dead he appeared first to
Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9-11).
• In the first days of the early Church, women
worshipped together with the disciples (Acts 1:12-14).
•Other Christians think that women and men should have
different roles and use teachings such as:
•In Genesis 2 it seems that Adam is made before Eve and
she is made as his helper.
•In Genesis 3, it is Eve who is the first to sin.
•Jesus being critical of his mother, Mary, at the wedding
at Cana (John 2:3-4a).
•In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he insists that women
must be silent in church and that they should keep their
heads covered.
•In recent years an increasing number of Christians have
come to feel that women should have an equal role in
worship and the priesthood. The Roman Catholic and
Orthodox Churches do not agree because they believe the
role of the priest is as Jesus’ representative on earth and
therefore this role cannot be fulfilled by a woman.
5. Christian attitudes towards other religions
•Christianity is a proselytising religion. Although
Christians believe that everyone should have the right to
practise their own religion, they also believe that only
Christianity has the complete truth about God. They
believe that it is their duty as members of their religion
to go out and convert people.
•It appears from the New Testament that it is only
Jesus’ followers who can go to heaven when they die.
Jesus taught ‘I am the way and the truth and the life’
(John 14:6).
•Evangelism is the spreading of the teachings of Jesus
from the gospels or ‘good news’. This follows Jesus’
command to the disciples at his ascension: ‘Therefore go
and make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28:19a).
•Many Christian groups, such as the Salvation Army, have
a strong tradition of evangelism and believe that it is a
very important part of their Christian life and duty.
•For centuries, many Christians travelled abroad as
missionaries. They believed that it was their Christian
duty and obligation to convert as many people to
Christianity as possible.
•Missionaries today are now mostly concerned with helping
people in developing countries rather than trying to
convert them. It could be said that they serve their
mission by showing the example of Jesus in their lives.
•Ecumenism is the movement where different Christian
denominations work together with joint services and
community work. This shows that although there may be
major differences between some groups, they still share
the same essential beliefs.
•Taizé, an ecumenical Christian community in a small
village in France, was founded in 1940, during the Second
World War, by Brother Roger Schutz.
•In recent years, many Christians have started working
towards interfaith dialogue, particularly with Jews and
Muslims.
6. Forgiveness and reconciliation
•Forgiveness and reconciliation are very important
aspects of Christian life and beliefs. This is
demonstrated in, what is for most Christians, the central
act of worship, the Eucharist.
•A central Christian belief is that of forgiveness as they
believe that God is merciful and shows his love and
forgiveness of people, and that they should try and show
the same attitude. Teachings about forgiveness are
found in the Bible. For example:
•The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9b-13) shows that
Christians must always forgive in order to be forgiven
by God.
•Jesus taught his disciples to ‘Love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons
of your Father in heaven’. However, this does not mean
that Jesus was incapable of anger – that he just
forgave everyone anything. He did show his anger when
people acted in a way which was offensive to God.
•The central Christian service of the Eucharist is a time
for forgiveness and reconciliation when Christians
remember and receive God’s forgiveness through the
celebrations of Jesus’ sacrifice.
•Jesus gave the power to his disciples to forgive sins on
behalf of God, and the Roman Catholic Church teaches that
this power has been passed to priests. One of the key
beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church is in the sacrament
of reconciliation. The person who is seeking forgiveness
goes to the priest to ask to be forgiven. The priest hears
their confession in a confessional and anything he hears is
confidential.
•Jesus taught forgiveness on many occasions including the
Parables of the Lost Sheep, Lost Son and the Unforgiving
Servant.
•Jesus’ death on the cross was an act of atonement which
showed that God had forgiven people for their sins and
that if they had truly repented they would be allowed into
heaven by God’s grace.
•There are some places such as Coventry Cathedral,
which was rebuilt after being bombed in the
Second World War, that have become centres for
reconciliation and forgiveness.